Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit Florida over the weekend. With 29 electoral votes, Florida, is a crucial state for any nominee, prompting Clinton to address Democratic voters at the Broward College in Davie. Immigration and voting rights are likely to feature in her speeches, which are also likely to see Clinton up the ante against GOP presidential candidates who reside in Florida like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson and Donald Trump, reports The Miami Herald. But the visit has raised interest for another reason: The Davie Police Department has refused to allocate the several extra thousand dollars required in police overtime to provide Clinton security.
"We'll have nine there plus myself," said Davie Police Capt. Dale Englem, reports the Sun Sentinel.
When the Secret Service wanted to add an extra tent at the venue to accommodate the huge crowd expected, Assistant Police Chief Keith Dunn refused, saying it would stretch the department's ability to provide adequate security and add to the cost. "If you aren't paying us, we aren't going to be there," Dunn said, according to the Sun Sentinel.
"When you task a small municipality like Davie, it's tough on them. They have a budget and it's hard to stay within budget when something like that happens. We were recently there with the vice president. It probably ate up their budget for the month," said William Cachinero, assistant special agent in charge of the Miami field office, conceding that the effort would be a drain on the small town's budget, reports The New York Times.
"While we understand this support often results in costs to the communities that host protective visits, the Secret Service is not funded to reimburse communities for these costs and the Secret Service does not pay for police overtime associated with protective visits," said Robert Hoback, an agency spokesman.
The Davie Police Department has refused to comment on how much it would cost it to provide Clinton's security detail.
